Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Through the Sea of Memories ❯ October ( Chapter 2 )

October

By Timberwolf220

 

-Maybe I've been here before-

-I know this room, I've walked this floor-

-I used to live alone before I knew you-

—Rufus Wainwright “Hallelujah”

 

-XX-

 

It was Halloween night and if you didn't figure it out by the eerie lighting in the dojo or the pumpkins by the entrance, you simply weren't human. At least, that's what Kai discerns, even though he never paid any special attention to the holiday himself.

 

It was his teammates who actually decided to celebrate the holiday. More specifically, it was Tyson and Max who thought it was a good idea. Kenny thought it was a waste of time and Rei simply didn't care much about the idea to make any comments, bad or otherwise. Kai had his suspicions that it was Tyson's grandfather, Mr. Kinomiya who actually sprouted the idea in his teammates' heads.

 

He didn't dislike Halloween. But he wasn't overly fond of it either. The base emotion was indifference (which was his base emotion for most of the things he came across) and the strongest emotions he ever felt over anything have always been centered on Beyblading. Like the center of his universe, he mused to himself as he pulled back the sliding door to enter the dojo.

 

He did dress for the holiday and Mr. Kinomiya threatened in his jovial tone that if he didn't, there would be no supper of him and he'd ban Tyson from team practices. Naturally, as captain, he couldn't have that, so he agreed to come (much to his displeasure) and had asked Rei to help him choose a costume.

 

Rei has a wicked sense of humour, Kai thought silently. He was dressed in bright warm colors, the kind that would put flowers and the Sun to shame. . He had a long flowing cape behind him, a sultry yellow with a deep crimson lining. He wore a simple red tank-top and his pants flared out at the bottom like flames licking his feet. And to top it off, he had a diadem across his forehead, with a large ruby in the middle and a pointed Venetian mask that accentuated his sharp garnet eyes.

 

To put it simply, Rei found it funny if the “Ice Man of the Bladebreakers” came in as the Sun God.

 

He was going to make sure Rei paid for his humiliation in beyblade practices. Count on it.

 

Relishing the idea of driving Rei into the ground with training, he walked into the main room. There were black drapes on the wall with gold witches trailing a line of sparks and stars. There were some tapestries of silver skeletons and large hoary tombstones. Kai had to give Mr. Kinomiya credit. When he set his mind to something, he did it well. An aspect he thankfully passed down to Tyson, who demonstrated it in…different ways.

 

Still, it was effort well put and he unconsciously found himself admiring the atmosphere. There were others here, some Beyblade teams that had stopped here on tours or obscure tournaments in order to hone their skills. The Demolition Boys were here, so were Rei's team, the White Tigers and the All-Starz and so on so forth. He didn't recognize all of them, but there were few he did and even then, they knew better than to mingle with him.

 

“I didn't think you would come, despite what Gramps said,” A voice, childish and gentle sounded behind him. He turned around and found himself facing Tyson, who was holding out some punch for him, in a pumpkin carved glass of all things. He accepted it gratefully and sipped it slowly, looking at Tyson from out of the corner of his eyes.

 

Tyson wore his standard dark colours. With his tanned skin, the blues stood out well. He was wearing a traditional kimono with cloud swirls. When he moved quickly, he could see the clouds tremble and move in the dress. Around his forehead, there was a plain light-blue headband and an ordinary blue band to tie his hair. It was simple in its elegance, Kai thought suddenly, realizing how Tyson stood out so easily among the crowd. Or maybe it was him.

 

Probably it was just him.

 

Tyson came towards him once more, “Enjoyed your drink?” His voice was still loud and childish, but not immature, Kai noticed. His questions were subtle and soothing almost. It's nice to know once in a while that someone cared.

 

Kai nodded and set the drink down onto a table draped with sequins and bats, “I did actually,” He admitted truthfully and looked at him, “What was it?”

 

“Spiked pineapple juice,” Tyson said calmly and he snickered at Kai's sudden choke and wide eyes, “Joking. It was a pineapple and peach combination. No alcohol,” He paused and looked contemplative, “I think.”

 

“And what a relief it is to my ears,” Kai muttered, now glaring at him. However, his glare was softened immediately. It was so hard to get angry over silly reasons nowadays. Especially when those reasons involve Tyson. It seems he's always bending the rules for Tyson.

 

“You really came,” and Kai heard the awe in his voice, “I thought you wouldn't come. What made you change your mind?”

 

“Your grandfather is a good blackmailer,” Kai said promptly, not the least bit worried about the consequences. Tyson stared at him in shock and then laughed himself. It was unlike his old laugh, which was boisterous and loud. Now, the laugh was mellow and silvery like well-churned milk and butter on the countryside.

 

Tyson wiped slight tears of humour from his eyes, “I see. But you seemed…almost social tonight Kai,” And there was a glint of seriousness in his eyes, a look that was not familiar to Kai, “It's quite a change.”

 

For some reason, Kai felt needled about that comment, so he retorted, “As if you haven't changed!” Yet, he knew Tyson would anticipate this verbal response and it would bounce off him just like other insults from Kai have. Will nothing deter Tyson? Why is it that he never acts insulted or hurt by Kai's words?

 

Tyson simply smiled knowingly as the insult flew past him, “I have,” His voice was wistful, “For better or worse, I'm not sure.”

 

Kai turned away, unable to look at the youth anymore. He remembered the time when he had betrayed the team, never looking back, not even once. And from what he heard from Kenny, Tyson started crying when he left, all alone on the balcony. Rei hated him for that and even though they were now civil terms, that breach of trust was never re-established and sometimes Rei would glare at him if he made an offhand remark about Tyson.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” A voice boomed. Kai and Tyson turned towards the source of the voice, which was Mr. Kinomiya. The others also were quiet, waiting for the announcement, “We have a special celebration of the Dead tonight, so we will pay our respects in a special manner.”

 

“What is he doing?” Tyson muttered form under his breath, “He never said anything about this.”

 

“We will put on random masks on people,” To emphasis his point, he pulled out a large plastic bag filled with black masks, “And the lights will go out. Follow the whispers of the ghosts to reach your destination.”

 

“But what is our destination?” An exasperated voice called out. Kenny, from the sound of it, Kai thought smirking slightly.

 

“The person who love or the person you admire or the person you are thinking of,” Mr. Kinomiya said, winking to them. There were audible groans coming from the audience and Kai could hear Tyson gnashing his teeth together in irritation, “And everyone has to participate!”

 

If Mr. Kinomiya escaped unscathed tonight, Kai would believe in God and guardian angels. Sighing, he went over to receive a dull black mask. Removing his own, he pulled the mask over his head and saw that Tyson had done the same.

 

One by one, members of the respective Beyblade teams took their masks. When the bag was empty, Mr. Kinomiya winked and without any warning at all, the lights were off and they were standing in pitch darkness. Almost immediately, there were protests and cries of indignation and anger, but Kai blocked all those noises from his mind.

 

But even the voices in the room, he felt a familiar fear crawl from the recesses of his mind back into his thoughts.

 

Darkness surrounding him on all corners. He kept running, hoping for some light, hoping for someone to take him out of here. Where were his parents? Were they truly dead as his grandfather had said? He didn't believe it. The minute he got out of here, he was going to find them. They would be there somewhere, he thought. Somewhere in the light, where there is sun. Somewhere away from the oppressive darkness. But he groped for the walls, looking for the cracks, the light was forever denied to him. And there was no sounds, no light penetrating in this dark dream. Or is it a dream? Perhaps it was a botched up reality that he just realized the difference of.

 

He gasped, pulling himself harshly from those thoughts. He berated himself for bringing up old ghosts at a time like this. Then stopped suddenly when he realized what he said.

 

Bringing up old ghosts, old memories.

 

Mr. Kinomiya wasn't joking when he said, `the whispers of ghosts will lead you to your destination.'

 

But where was his destination? Where did he want to go? He heard the pitter-patter of footsteps around him, yet he never moved, feeling hopelessly lost and utterly foolish to run around in the dark. Blindly, he stretched out his hand, hoping for someone to grab it, to pull him out of his memories, to relinquish the tight grasp his past had on him.

 

So as his fingers stretched for some comfort, they were met with a warm hand. Unadulterated relief filled Kai and he clasped that hand tightly. For a minute he felt a brief fear that the person would shake his hand away and he would be alone again. But the person tightened his grip over Kai's hand and the fear vanished.

 

He didn't remember how long he stood there. It didn't feel like eternity, yet it wasn't short enough to be called a moment. But with the hand next to him, reminding to hold on, the fears and memories had died slowly.

 

Suddenly, the lights came on. Kai blinked, the light blinding him. As his eyes adjusted themselves, he found himself holding Tyson's hand. And Tyson was holding his. There was a general murmur of relief over the ordeal and the laughter and noise had resumed.

 

But none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that Tyson was holding his hand and was letting go and moving away. That Tyson was still holding his hand and smiling.

 

Ghosts of the past be damned. He had his own guardian angel.

 

 

A/N: Slightly angsty, slightly fluffy, slightly weird and I'm pretty sure this isn't me. At least, I think it isn't. You guys might think otherwise.

 

It feels good to revive the TyKa. May it reign supreme.

 

-Whispers flitted through his ear-

-But went out the other-

-There was no more music tonight-

—Author's observation